Market Bizzz

The company had already lowered its profit and sales estimates in early June based on what it described as “unfavorable” changes in the foreign exchange rate as the U.S. dollar surged. A tough season for computer sales – blamed on supply chain disruptions and geopolitical instability – put pressure on Microsoft’s personal computing business, which relies on licensing revenue from PC manufacturers who install its Windows operating system on their products.

Walmart’s stock tumbled over 9% in extended trade, and other big retailers also sold off. Target fell over 5% and Amazon was down about 4%. Meanwhile Costco Wholesale Corp, Best Buy, Dollar General and Dollar Tree each declined more than 3%. Home Depot fell almost 2%.

Asian Paints, L&T, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power, United Spirits, Union Bank of India, Relaxo Footwears, Sanofi, Aditya Birla SL AMC, KEI Industries, and UTI AMC are among the companies that will announce their earnings for the quarter ended June 2022.

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday. A hike of that magnitude would effectively close out pandemic-era support for the economy.

Stocks in focus include names like Eicher Motors which hit a fresh 52-week high, GSFC which rose more than 14 per cent, and HDFC Bank which closed with gains of over 2 per cent on Friday.

Oil futures have been volatile in recent weeks as traders try to reconcile the possibilities of further interest rate hikes that could limit economic activity, and thus cut fuel demand growth, against tight supply from the disruptions in the trading of Russian barrels because of the Western sanctions amid the Ukraine conflict.

At the same time, the dollar built on its recovery from a 2 1/2-week low against major peers, supported by demand for the U. The dollar index – which measures the safe-haven currency against six major peers – edged 0.1% higher to 106.81, climbing further from a 2 1/2-week low of 106.10 reached Friday.

Net interest income rose 32% at Rs 1,850 crore, while net interest margin for the quarter rose nearly 30 basis points to 2.4%.